1940s Abstract Paintings

Antique American modernist cityscape oil painting. Oil on canvasboard. Framed. Measuring: 21 by 17 inches overall, and 12 by 16 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. Han...

Appropriately called the "Mosaic" period for important historical artist Carl Holty, this is a super example! His color use during this time frame was lively as he always used sky b...

Nice modernist American school painting. Oil and watercolor and gouache on board. Signed. Framed. Image size, 18L x 23H.

Vintage modernist abstract expressionist painting. Oil on board. Housed in a period frame. Image size, 16L x 20H. Signed.

Oil on board. Framed. Signed. Exhibited at the Butler Art Institute.

Seymour Franks Tempole, 1948 Signed lower right; signed, dated, titled on verso Oil on canvas 35 x 42 inches American painter and designer, Seymour Franks, was born in New York Ci...

Really impressive early American modernist painting. Oil on board. Framed.

Antique American surreal abstract landscape painting Will Hollingsworth. Oil on canvas, circa 1940. Signed. Displayed in a period modernist fr...

"Birth" is a striking semi-abstract watercolor painting created by the talented Colorado artist, Charles Ragland Bunnell, in 1943. The artwork, crafted during Bunnell's Black and Blu...

Antique modernist mixed media abstract oil painting and collage by Paul René Gauguin (1911 - 1976). Oil and mixed media on board, circa . Signed. D...

Impressive early American modernist abstract oil painting by Louis Wolchonok (1898 - 1973). Framed. Oil on board. Signed. Image size, 24H by 18L.

A fine abstract expressionist painting by well known Italian artist Afro Basaldella, known more as Afro (1912-1976). Afro was born in Udine, Italy, and showed his work when he was si...

Subjective Farm Landscape 1940 Oil on canvas, 24" x 30" 37.5" x 31" x 2" framed - frame is original to this artwork Signed recto lower right: "rosenborg 40" & arrow box cypher. Signe...

Abstract Work on Paper Mid-Century Modernism Greek American Gouache Drawing. A modernist artist who emigrated to America from Greece in 1904, when he was fourteen years old, Jean Xceron is described as having a reputation as an artist that has mysteriously fallen into obscurity---especially since he was reportedly quite prominent during his lifetime. However, a partial explanation of that omission is the fact that many of his papers and early records have been lost. He was a painter of biomorphic abstractions and did collages, which were influenced by Dadaism. Xceron was active in New York City when modernism was gaining influence. Of him during this period, it was written that his artistic role was "a vital link between what is commonly termed as the first-generation (the Stieglitz group, the Synchromists, etc.) and second-generation, the American Abstract Artists, the Transcendental Painting...

Very impressive and a rare early work by Frederick E. Conway (1900 - 1973). Oil on board. Incredibly framed. Signed.

Vintage modernist abstract hat shop painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1950. Housed in a period frame. Image size, 32L x 26H.

Charles Green Shaw Harvard vs. Yale, 1944 Signed and dated on the reverse Oil on canvasboard 9 x 12 inches Provenance: Harvey and Francois Rambach, New Jersey Private Collection, California Washburn Gallery, New York D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York Private Collection, New York Charles Green Shaw, born into a wealthy New York family, began painting when he was in his mid-thirties. A 1914 graduate of Yale, Shaw also completed a year of architectural studies at Columbia University. During the 1920s Shaw enjoyed a successful career as a freelance writer for The New Yorker, Smart Set and Vanity Fair, chronicling the life of the theater and café society. In addition to penning insightful articles, Shaw was a poet, novelist and journalist. In 1927 he began to take a serious interest in art and attended Thomas Hart Benton's class at the Art Students League briefly in New York. He also studied privately with George Luks, who became a good friend. Once he had dedicated himself to non-traditional painting, Shaw's writing ability made him a potent defender of abstract art. After initial study with Benton and Luks, Shaw continued his artistic education in Paris by visiting numerous museums and galleries. From 1930 to 1932 Shaw's paintings evolved from a style imitative of Cubism to one directly inspired by it, though simplified and more purely geometric. Returning to the United States in 1933, Shaw began a series of abstracted cityscapes of skyscrapers he called Manhattan Motifs which evolved into his most famous works, the shaped canvases he called Plastic Polygons. The 1930s were productive years for Shaw. He showed his paintings in numerous group exhibitions, both in New York and abroad, and was also given several one-man exhibitions. Shaw had his first one-man exhibition at the Valentine Dudensing Gallery in New York in 1934, which included 25 Manhattan Motif paintings and 8 abstract works. In the spring of 1935 Shaw was introduced to Albert Gallatin and George L.K. Morris. Gallatin was so impressed with Shaw's work, he broke a policy against solo exhibitions at his museum, the Gallery of Living Art, and offered Shaw an exhibition there. In the summer of 1935 Shaw traveled to Paris with Gallatin and Morris who provided introductions to many great painters. Shaw regularly spent time with John Ferren and Jean Hélion. The following year Gallatin organized an exhibition called Five Contemporary American Concretionists at the Reinhardt Gallery that included Shaw, Ferren, and Morris, Alexander Calder, and Charles Biederman...

Abstract figurative painting on board. Carl Bredemier label on the reverse. Framed. Oil on board

Gurevich Anatole Anatol Gurevitch Anatol Gurewitsch (1916-2005) Per the hebrew label on the back, this was exhibited in 1951. I believe at the Tel Aviv museum of art (as per the Israel Museum (Jerusalem) website)m in a manner reminescent of Bezalel Schatz, Moshe Castel, Jean david and other Israeli artists of the New Horizons prominent in that period ts a nude crouching figure against a colorful abstract background. Israeli Painter and stage designer. Yakir of Tel Aviv. Born in Russia, Moscow in the mid-teens of the twentieth century. Studied painting in Berlin. Immigrated to Palestine from Germany in 1934. Served in the British Army (1941-1946). Known for his pantings of Jewish rabbis and other Judaica subject matter. He specialized in stage design for dance troupes: the dance troupe led by Gertrude Kraus, Inbal, the Batsheva Dance Company, the international black dancer tali bati. His first wife was the late dancer and choreographer - the girl Kesten, His son is theater director Michael Gurevich. His second wife was the actress - Rivka Gur, who gave birth to his second son, Eyal. He died at the age of 89 after a serious illness. He left behind two sons: Michael (Miki) Gurevitch and Eyal Gurevitch. He was the uncle of the artist and sculptor - Igael Tumarkin. He was a stage designer in the theaters The brothel of Hunzo from Kibbutz Givat Haim, the British military band of this type, the British army, Gertrud Kraus, the Inbal Dance Theater, the Israeli Ballet, the Batsheva Dance Company and more. He designed a stage for plays The girl and the Negro, the Threepenny Opera, a band on the Thames, the singer of the land (in the military band of 1944), the banknote to Shlomo, the tea department, Nathan the Wise, Herod and Miriam. Awards Yakir Tel Aviv Prize, on behalf of the Tel Aviv Municipality. Anatol Gurewitsch, painter and Stage designer, born 1916, Moscow. After Second World War worked as stage designer. Designed costumes for dancer Gertrud Krausz. Uncle of Igael Tumarkin, and father of the theater Director Miki Gurewitsch. Education Academy of Fine Arts, Berlin, art 1936 with Frenel Frankel 1937 with Miron...

Nordfeldt's misty and moody monochromatic modernist landscape is reminiscent of Marsden Hartley. Signed lower right. The plaque reads B.J.O Nordfeldt "Moon in Mist - The painting l...

This striking 1946 oil on canvas painting, titled Deserted Street, was created by Colorado/Woodstock modernist artist Jenne Magafan (1916-1952). The artwork features a solitary figu...

A Painting depicting an amusement park exploding in vibrant colors. The painting is signed "William Wright" lower right. Oil on Canvas. 20 x 24. Nicely framed.

Antique English landscape oil painting by Julian Barrow (1939 - 2013). Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Measuring: 10 by 12 inches overall, and 8 by 10 painting alone. In excellent or...

A radiant Impressionist-style landscape, this oil painting captures the vibrant warmth of a summer meadow scattered with white daisies and blush-pink wildflowers. Loose, expressive b...

These artworks by Carl Holty are only sold as a pair. Each painting measures 9" x 11" and framed 18" x 20.25" x 2.5" The red and gold work is signed "Carl Holty" in the lower right. About this artists: Carl Holty was awakened to his interest in art as a child through visits to the Layton Art Gallery of Milwaukee, and began painting lessons with Friedrich Wilhelm Heine at a young age. Though born in Freiburg, Germany, in 1900, he was raised in Wisconsin and enrolled at Marquette University. Before long, Holty abandoned his pre-medical studies in order to pursue art. He spent a summer at the School of the Chicago Art Institute in Saugatuck, Michigan, and set off for New York in 1920. He then studied at the National Academy of Design under Francis Coates Jones...

This beautiful oil on linen canvas painting, entitled "Rail Crossing: Middletown, was executed by the esteemed artist Jules Halfant (American, 1909-2001)...

Emil John HESS 1913-2003 This vibrant watercolor on canvas by acclaimed American artist Emil John Hess immerses viewers in the lively atmosphere of a bustling circus scene. Painted...

Born in Ontario, Canada, Rolph Scarlett left home at age eighteen for New York City, making that city his home for long periods during his lifetime. While beginning his career as an ...

Antique American school abstract expressionist oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a modernist wood molding. Excellent co...

Antique American abstract cubist street scene oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Signed. Measuring: 31 by 42 inches overall, and 25 by 36 painting alone. In excellent original con...

Artwork measures 48" x 30" and framed 56 ¼" x 38 ¼" x 3" Provenance: John Heller Gallery, NYC, circa 1975 (label verso) The artist's daughter Corbino Galleries, Sarasota, FL (1990)...

Ortez (Modernist Family Portrait) is a vibrant 1947 abstract gouache on paper by American artist Lewis Lee Tilley (1921–2005). This dynamic composition captures a family of five seat...

This vibrant oil painting by Henry Varnum Poor (American, 1888–1970) captures a blooming spring landscape with barns, budding trees, and bright skies rendered in expressive, textural...

"Backstage, Ambassador" Broadway Theatre NYC Mid-century Modern Modernist CubistSigned lower left, titled on the stretcher. Norkin was a Brooklyn, Ne...

This original vintage painting by Charles Ragland Bunnell (1897-1968), titled Quitting Time from Bunnell's Black and Blue Series from 1941, exemplifies his unique Abstract Structure ...

This striking 1945 abstract landscape watercolor by pioneering modernist artist Eve (Van Ek) Drewelowe, titled "The Champagne Cascades, Crescendos, Crashes," is a bold interpretation...

Signed & dated 1940 lower left. Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the S...

Nicolas de Staël Study 1944 Original oil on canvas Unsigned On canvas 32 x 24 cm (c. 13 x 10 in) Presented in in a wood frame 41 x 34 cm (c. 16 x 13 in) Annotated "Nicolas de Stael ...

Albert Heckman Cubist Landscape Signed lower right Oil on canvas 21 3/4 x 30 inches Albert Heckman was born in Meadville, Western Pennsylvania, 1893. He went to New York City to tr...

Julio De Diego’s Atomic Series paintings made an extraordinary statement regarding the shock and fear that accompanied the dawn of the nuclear age. In the artist’s own words, “Scientists were working secretly to develop formidable powers taken from the mysterious depths of the earth - with the power to make the earth useless! Then, the EXPLOSION! . . . we entered the Atomic Age, and from there the neo-Atomic war begins. Explosions fell everywhere and man kept on fighting, discovering he could fight without flesh.” To execute these works, De Diego developed a technique of using tempera underpainting before applying layer upon layer of pigmented oil glazes. The result is paintings with surfaces which were described as “bonelike” in quality. The forms seem to float freely, creating a three-dimensional visual effect. In the 1954 book The Modern Renaissance in American Art, author Ralph Pearson summarizes the series as “a fantastic interpretation of a weighty theme. Perhaps it is well to let fantasy and irony appear to lighten the devastating impact. By inverse action, they may in fact increase its weight.” Exhibited 1950 University of Illinois at Urbana "Contemporary American Painting" 1964 Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas This work retains its original frame which measures 54" x 36" x 2". About this artist: Julio De Diego crafted a formidable persona within the artistic developments and political struggles of his time. The artist characterized his own work as “lyrical,” explaining, “through the years, the surrealists, the social-conscious painters and the others tried to adopt me, but I went my own way, good, bad or indifferent.” [1] His independence manifested early in life when de Diego left his parent’s home in Madrid, Spain, in adolescence following his father’s attempts to curtail his artistic aspirations. At the age of fifteen he held his first exhibition, set up within a gambling casino. He managed to acquire an apprenticeship in a studio producing scenery for Madrid’s operas, but moved from behind the curtains to the stage, trying his hand at acting and performing as an extra in the Ballet Russes’ Petrouchka with Nijinsky. He spent several years in the Spanish army, including a six-month stretch in the Rif War of 1920 in Northern Africa. His artistic career pushed ahead as he set off for Paris and became familiar with modernism’s forays into abstraction, surrealism, and cubism. The artist arrived in the U.S. in 1924 and settled in Chicago two years later. He established himself with a commission for the decoration of two chapels in St. Gregory’s Church. He also worked in fashion illustration, designed magazine covers and developed a popular laundry bag for the Hotel Sherman. De Diego began exhibiting through the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929, and participated in the annual Chicago Artists Exhibitions, Annual American Exhibitions, and International Water Color Exhibitions. He held a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in the summer of 1935. Though the artist’s career was advancing, his family life had deteriorated. In 1932 his first marriage dissolved, and the couple’s young daughter Kiriki was sent to live with friend Paul Hoffman. De Diego continued to develop his artistic vocabulary with a growing interest in Mexican art. He traveled throughout the country acquainting himself with the works of muralists such as Carlos Merida, and also began a collection of small native artifacts...

Leo Cahn Untitled, 1947 Oil on board 35 3/4 x 23 3/8 in. Framed: 42 1/2 x 30 1/2 x 2 in. Signed and dated lower left

Vintage American modernist still life oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a thin wood molding. Excellent condition...

Julio De Diego’s Atomic Series paintings made an extraordinary statement regarding the shock and fear that accompanied the dawn of the nuclear age. In the artist’s own words, “Scientists were working secretly to develop formidable powers taken from the mysterious depths of the earth - with the power to make the earth useless! Then, the EXPLOSION! . . . we entered the Atomic Age, and from there the neo-Atomic war begins. Explosions fell everywhere and man kept on fighting, discovering he could fight without flesh.” To execute these works, De Diego developed a technique of using tempera underpainting before applying layer upon layer of pigmented oil glazes. The result is paintings with surfaces which were described as “bonelike” in quality. The forms seem to float freely, creating a three-dimensional visual effect. In the 1954 book The Modern Renaissance in American Art, author Ralph Pearson summarizes the series as “a fantastic interpretation of a weighty theme. Perhaps it is well to let fantasy and irony appear to lighten the devastating impact. By inverse action, they may in fact increase its weight.” Exhibited 1964 Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas This work retains its original frame which measures 54" x 42" x 2" About this artist: Julio De Diego crafted a formidable persona within the artistic developments and political struggles of his time. The artist characterized his own work as “lyrical,” explaining, “through the years, the surrealists, the social-conscious painters and the others tried to adopt me, but I went my own way, good, bad or indifferent.” [1] His independence manifested early in life when de Diego left his parent’s home in Madrid, Spain, in adolescence following his father’s attempts to curtail his artistic aspirations. At the age of fifteen he held his first exhibition, set up within a gambling casino. He managed to acquire an apprenticeship in a studio producing scenery for Madrid’s operas, but moved from behind the curtains to the stage, trying his hand at acting and performing as an extra in the Ballet Russes’ Petrouchka with Nijinsky. He spent several years in the Spanish army, including a six-month stretch in the Rif War of 1920 in Northern Africa. His artistic career pushed ahead as he set off for Paris and became familiar with modernism’s forays into abstraction, surrealism, and cubism. The artist arrived in the U.S. in 1924 and settled in Chicago two years later. He established himself with a commission for the decoration of two chapels in St. Gregory’s Church. He also worked in fashion illustration, designed magazine covers and developed a popular laundry bag for the Hotel Sherman. De Diego began exhibiting through the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929, and participated in the annual Chicago Artists Exhibitions, Annual American Exhibitions, and International Water Color Exhibitions. He held a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in the summer of 1935. Though the artist’s career was advancing, his family life had deteriorated. In 1932 his first marriage dissolved, and the couple’s young daughter Kiriki was sent to live with friend Paul Hoffman. De Diego continued to develop his artistic vocabulary with a growing interest in Mexican art. He traveled throughout the country acquainting himself with the works of muralists such as Carlos Merida, and also began a collection of small native artifacts...

Signed, titled and dated cubist oil on canvas by French painter Andre Masson. The work depicts colourful insects. Signature: Signed lower right and titled and dated 1946 verso Dim...

Tertiaries Colour Exercise Gouache 20 x 25 cm Provenance: The family of A. E. Halliwell This vibrant abstract composition explores the harmony of tertiary colours through interwov...

Original watercolor on paper. Initialed lower right by Rolph Scarlett. Artwork size 7.75 x 8.75 inches. Frame size 17.5 x 21.5 inches. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certifi...

Carter's Seeds Poster Design Gouache 49 x 32 cm Provenance: Family of A. E. Halliwell Little is known about the artist other than the fact that he studied under the celebrated art...

Antique American female modernist still life oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a wood molding. Excellent conditi...

Signed Lower Right Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to New York when he was 20. From 1913 to 1916, he enjoyed a scholarship from the Art Students League, and worked with John C. Johansen (a portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent), and Anders Zorn. He accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art in 1916, remaining there until 1921. This enabled him to travel to Europe to study Cézanne’s paintings and works of the Old Masters. He traveled to Paris, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Munich seeking the works of Titian, Cranach, Rembrandt, Veronese, and Holbein, which gave him new perspective. Vytlacil studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, settling there in 1921. Fellow students were Ernest Thurn and Worth Ryder, who introduced him to famous abstractionist Hans Hofmann. He worked with Hofmann from about 1922 to 1926, as a student and teaching assistant. During the summer of 1928, after returning to the United States, Vytlacil gave lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on modern European art. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Art Students League faculty. After one year, he returned to Europe and successfully persuaded Hofmann to teach at the League as well. He spent about six years in Europe, studying the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Dufy. In 1935, he returned to New York and became a co-founder of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He later had teaching posts at Queens College in New York; the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California; Black Mountain College in North Carolina; and the Art Students League. His paintings exhibit a clear inclination toward modernism. His still lives and interiors from the 1920s indicate an understanding of the art of Cézanne. In the 1930s, his works displayed two very different kinds of art at the same time. His cityscapes and landscapes combine Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. Vytlacil also used old wood, metal, cork, and string in constructions, influenced by his friend and former student, Rupert Turnbull. He eventually ceased creating constructions as he considered them too limiting. The spatial challenges of painting were still his preference. During the 1940s and 1950s, his works indicated a sense of spontaneity not felt in his earlier work. He married Elizabeth Foster in Florence, Italy, in 1927 and they lived and worked in Positano, Italy for extended periods of time. Later on, they divided their time between homes in Sparkill, New York and Chilmark, Massachusetts, where Vyt, as he was affectionately called, taught at the Martha's Vineyard Art...

This work is part of our exhibition - America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s Untitled (Cubist Portrait), 1945, oil on masonite, signed and dated lower middle, 20 x 16 inches, remnant of exhibition label verso, perhaps exhibited at Murry's solo exhibition at the Los Angeles's Screen Cartoonists' Gallery, July , 1945, presented in its original frame Jerre Murry was a California modernist painter. Born in Columbia, Missouri, Murry studied at the Detroit Academy of Art and worked as an artist for the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. Murry traveled to the Bahamas, where he was inspired to paint modernist scenes of island life and people. By the early 1930s, Murry had relocated to Los Angeles, where he caught the attention of Synchromist painter Stanton Macdonald Wright, State Supervisor for the Federal Art Project (FAP) in Southern California. MacDonald Wright enrolled Murry into the FAP. Murry’s Gauguin-influenced painting Sun Image was exhibited together with other FAP artists at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1936, and Murry was also included in the FAP exhibit at the Paris Exposition in 1937. Stendahl Galleries in Los Angeles, the Chamber of Commerce Gallery in Santa Barbara, and at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art also showed Murry’s work during the 1930s. Murry created a murals for Los Angeles Water & Power Company, the Boise, Idaho Post Office, and Glendale Junior College. In 1939, Murry's work was exhibited at the Golden Gate International Exposition and the New York World's Fair. He also was included in the All California Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of art that same year. He went on to exhibit in Los Angeles at the Foundation of Western Art's Trends in Southern California Art shows in 1940 and 1941, at Raymond and Raymond Gallery in Hollywood and USC’s Elizabeth Holmes...

Rolph Scarlett (Canadian/American, 1889 - 1984) “Abstract” Signed and dated 1947, lower right Gouache on paper Provenance: Private collection, Miami Florida About Rolph Scarlett w...

Signed Lower Right Bror Julius Olsson “B.J.O.” Nordfeldt (1878 - 1955) Bror Julius Olsson was born in Tullstrop, Sweden in 1878. He immigrated to the United States in 1891, later adopting his mother’s maiden name of Nordfeldt. Beginning his art studies at the Art Institute of Chicago where he was chosen to assist fellow artist, Albert Herter, with a large mural project for the McCormick Harvester Company. In 1900, he was sent to Paris by McCormick to help set up the completed mural at the Paris Exposition. While there, he studied briefly at the Academie Julian before traveling to England to study woodblock printmaking under F. Morley Fletcher. Returning to Chicago in 1903, Nordfeldt would spend the next ten years painting mainly figurative works in an academic style similar to that of the Old Masters. By the mid-teens he had developed a bold dramatic modernist style and divided his time between New York and Provincetown, Massachusetts. There, he invented the “Provincetown Print...

Antique American modernist signed seascape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed.

Charles Elmer Harris (Beni E. Kosh), Untitled (Central Railroad), watercolor, c. 1945. Estate stamped verso, 'Beni E Kosh COLLECTION' and numbered '697' in ink. A fine, modernist re...

Antique French modernist Paris school cityscape street scene oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed. Measuring 27 by 40 inches overall and 26 by 39 painting alone. In excellent...

Kenneth Hills Geometric Fabric Design Gouache 39 x 31 cm Signed top left Provenance: The family of A. E. Halliwell Little is known about the artist other than the fact that he st...

Belgian artist Miette Braive(1916-2000), was classically trained in Belgium, before moving to Paris to pursue her art career as first a student and then a contemporary of the famed F...

A W Wallis Geometry in Abstraction Gouache 21 x 26 cm Signed to reverse Provenance: The family of A. E. Halliwell Little is known about the artist A W Wallis, though the fact tha...

Vintage signed large abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed.

Found Objects Gouache 55 x 38 cm Provenance: The family of A. E. Halliwell. Little is known about the artist other than the fact that he studied under the celebrated artist A. E. H...